MU makes best of its situation

A bizarre set of circumstances has placed both potential plots on the table for the Missouri tennis team.

The Tigers posses neither a permanent coach nor a home. Their longtime coach, Blake Starkey, resigned a week before the season to accept a job at a country club in Little Rock, Ark. And they will play their outdoor home matches 3 miles down the road at Bethel Park, the home of Rock Bridge’s tennis team.

“In circumstances like this,” senior Kaitlyn Ritchie said, “a team could go one way or another.”

So far, Missouri has embraced its lot.

The Tigers, who won only one conference dual last season, continued their strong start yesterday with a 4-3 victory over Iowa at the Green Tennis Center.

After dropping the doubles point, MU (5-1) won four of its first five singles matches and Ritchie took nationally ranked Hawkeyes star Sonja Molnar to a third-set tiebreak at No. 1 singles.

“We knew what we were up against,” interim Coach Steven Stuckenschneider said. “So to come out ahead, it’s probably the best feeling we’ve had so far this season.”

“We know we’re a good team,” said senior Mallory Weber, who defeated Jessica Young 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. “Getting wins like we did today gives us even more confidence.”

The Tigers’ three underclassmen offered Missouri the biggest lift yesterday.

Hacke, a Hamburg, Germany, native, competing in only her third collegiate match, rose as high as 18th in Germany’s junior rankings. Stuhlmann is a three-time Class 2 state singles champion from Kirkwood.

Stuhlmann said the upheaval provided the team with a rallying point.

“We’re all coming together,” she said.

Not that it’s the situation they’d prefer.

The latest wrench is the uncertainty about their address. Missouri does not have playable outdoor courts, a problem for a sport in which conference matches are supposed to be played outside if the weather is good. While the Tigers received a Big 12 waiver last season to play its conference home matches inside the Green Tennis Center, the league office nixed a similar arrangement for this spring.

With the school’s four outdoor courts cracked and bleeding water, MU will play its warm-weather matches at Bethel Park.

“It’s going to be an interesting process,” Ritchie said. “I wish we had courts. I wish we had six courts that we could play on. We go to other schools that have really great facilities, so we kind of do get to experience what we’re lacking,”

But she and her teammates aren’t searching for excuses. With four starters returning and seven of its 11 conference matches at “home,” the Tigers are geared to climb the Big 12 standings.

“We can either gripe or complain about it or we can make the best of it,” Ritchie said.